When David and his wife (Gretchen Mol - Cradle Will Rock, 3:10 To Yuma) get pregnant with their first, they appear to be the happiest couple on earth. Everything will be perfect in their minds, and seems to be going great until the fateful night when his wife, Nora, begins to deliver the baby, as the story begins. With their family doctor not able to make it on time, Dr. Henry (a bone doctor) has to deliver the child with only the help of Nurse Caroline Gil (Emily Watson - Punch-Drunk Love, The Water Horse).
When their baby son is born, he is healthy and hearty, screaming with the cutting of the umbilical chord. It is then when Nora feels more contractions, and a second child is delivered as she passes out. Dr. Henry realizes immediately from the distinct look on their newborn daughter's face that she has been stricken with Down Syndrome, and his heart is broken.
In an effort to shield his wife from the pain of having to raise their daughter, Dr. Henry asks the nurse to take the girl to a home that cares for and raises mentally challenged children, thinking that she will not live long anyway. But when the nurse arrives at the home, she witnesses a horrible beating and decides not to leave the girl, and decides to instead raise the baby as her own.
As the years go by, Caroline sends pictures of the Henry's daughter, Phoebe (Krystal Hope Nausbaum), to the Doctor, and he continues to shield any knowledge from his wife and son, Paul (Jamie Spilchuk - The Session). The stress and lies catch up with him, though, as his wife begins to have affairs, their son falls into a troubled life, and their marriage falls apart. In typical Lifetime Original Movie fashion, The Memory Keeper's Daughter ends up being a real tearjerker in the end.
Although this made for TV movie is a bit on the low-budget side, it ends up holding your attention because of, at first, the sheer atrocity of giving up a baby in need, and later for the reason that Phoebe has grown up to be a great child, and the lives of the Henrys become such a wreck. I definitely recommend The Memory Keeper's Daughter for those who enjoy this style of movie, as it will not disappoint.
